Finally some excitement at work. We built a new database and screens to
support a series of special formulas. The house plans are complete, but the door is open to make some minor changes as time goes by. I
finally got a MP3 Player. Lastly, although I have every song from it... I bought
The Beatles 1 CD.

The Beatles 1

First of all I should say I am a huge Beatles fan. My Mom's boyfriend grew up
with The Beatles, and I learned a lot about them that rarely gets mentioned
anymore. Things like John Lennon saying how he knew he made mistakes in the
famous Shea Stadium concert but nobody could tell because of all the screaming
(this is one of reasons they stopped touring which doesn't get mentioned anymore). I heard about how John
Lennon just "stopped by" Scott Munney's (sp?) broadcast one day for an
interview. Munney was the man in Rock & Roll. He broadcast everyday on NY's
WNEW radio station from 2:00 to 6:00. When Munney interviewed you it was a big
deal. When John Lennon just shows up to be interviewed... well you can only imagine
how big a deal that was... the radio station was
packed outside as a huge crowd gathered waiting for Lennon to come out. Munney's
tribute to John Lennon after he died was to start every broadcast with a John
Lennon song or a Beatles song that John Lennon wrote. I remember struggling to
get to a radio at 2:00 as much as I could to hear the day's pick.

I have more Beatles songs on Albums, CDs, 45 singles, MP3, etc. than any other
artist or band. In fact I have more than twice as many Beatles songs as my next
favorite artist... Billy Joel (a fellow Islander). So why did I buy another Beatles CD? Well, it was a collection
of all their #1 hits. I am a little too young to know which songs were #1 on the
charts as I only started listening to The Beatles in around 77-78. I made my own
Beatles Hits CD when I got my CD burner up to speed. I made a copy of that CD
for my wife. But some of the songs on it had more meaning to me than other
Beatles songs, and don't necessarily jibe with what made it to #1. My wife also
doesn't necessarily like some of the more personal picks of mine.

In a nutshell I got the new 1 CD for my wife, as well as out of curiosity for the songs
they picked versus my own. Here are the lists of songs from their CD and mine:

The Beatles 1

Love Me Do
From Me To You
She Loves You
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Can't Buy Me Love
A Hard Day's Night
I Feel Fine
Eight Days A Week
Ticket To Ride
Help!
Yesterday
Day Tripper
We Can Work It Out
Paperback Writer
Yellow Submarine
Eleanor Rigby
Penny Lane
All You Need Is Love
Hello, Goodbye
Lady Madonna
Hey Jude
Get Back
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
Something
Come Together
Let It Be
The Long And Winding Road

Scott's Beatles Hits

Love Me Do
Please, Please Me
She Loves You
Can't Buy Me Love
A Hard Day's Night
All My Loving
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
Help!
Day Tripper
Paperback Writer
Eleanor Rigby
Lovely Rita
Strawberry Fields
Penny Lane
Lucy In The Shy With Diamonds
I Am The Walrus
The Fool On The Hill
Nowhere Man
Revolution
Back In The USSR
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Get Back
Come Together
Something

As you can see there are a lot of matches (14, those in blue). Remember
that I made my CD over a year ago. Notice the order. As best I can tell their list is
in order from when they were #1. They have the luxury of knowing, or finding
out, that information. I went by ear as to about when the songs were released
within relation to each other. On their previous collection of songs (the 2 CD
Red Set, and the 2 CD Blue set, which I own on vinyl & CD) Strawberry Fields
leads into Penny Lane. That is the way I listen to those songs. For me its
like Queen's We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions... they always go
together.

I left off Hey Jude because it was too long, and I wanted as many songs as I
could fit. More Trivia: Hey Jude was the first big hit from any
artist that was drastically
over 3 minutes, at around 7 minutes. Prior to its release when a group released
a song longer than 3 minutes they would release a shorter, radio version. The Beatles
said they wouldn't make another version... play this version or don't play it at
all. Obviously, stations weren't about to not play the latest Beatles
hit. Now we have songs that are normally longer than 3 minutes... thanks to The
Beatles.)

I am a John Lennon fan so I had to include I Am The Walrus. Revolution
has too strong a meaning for me, and Back In The USSR was a spoof on The
Beach Boys Surfin' USA
and California Girls that I had to include on my CD. I had to include Lucy In The Sky With
Diamonds. More
Trivia: The story goes... when Elton John went to John Lennon wanting to
remake Lucy he told Lennon that he was going to take it to #1. Lennon
said something to this effect, "You'll never get that to #1, but if you do
I will perform it with you." Now the Madison Square Garden concert
were John Lennon showed up and performed with Elton John is legendary. At
various times I have cycled though having a favorite Beatles song... Eight Days
A Week and I Want To Hold Your Hand were my first favorites, and I played them
sooooo much that I decided to leave them off this disc.

I finally bought a MP3 player. You can read all about it in the Feature Article.
I am enjoying the Rio, but find the 32 MB of memory a pain to endure. But I knew
this going in. I bought the Rio 600 for its promise of expansion with 340 MB or
DataPlay backpacks. When SonicBlue gets its act together and releases them I
won't be hurting for memory. Be sure to read the Feature Article to see how I am
dealing with the abysmal 32 MB of memory in the meantime.

A New Database

We finally received requirements for a major addition to our intranet site.
This required building a new database to support a series of new data elements
(measures). We also had to develop 8 new screens and add a number of other
measures to the system.

Last month we had to perform a major change to the display of data in our
site. I used these two projects to force a knowledge transfer to another member
of my team. I expected this to prove to my manager that I am not indispensable.
I finally was able to get him to let me interview with another department.
Unfortunately, I did not get the job I was trying for. I will attempt to build up
my skills for that position in the coming months and re-apply after our next
major project due in February.

The House

Our plans are complete. We may make some
changes determined by budget, but we won't be able to do that until we have
estimates on building the house. That should be the next step. Stay tuned.

Conclusion

Of course Christmas has arrived. My Rio 600 was a Christmas present from my
wife. I don't have much to report in this column on the rest of my
non-technical presents. Besides, if you read last month's column you know I am
getting very excited about the game room in the new house.